Minister Michelle Gildernew has announced plans for two new ICT events in October, including an all-island ICT conference.

An ICT open day will be held at CAFRE'S Greenmount campus on 29 October. CAFRE will also be hosting The Irish Society of Information Technology in Agriculture (ISITA) Annual Conference on 30th October, which is in the north for the first time. The conference is jointly hosted by the British Association for IT in Agriculture (BAITA).

The Minister announced the events during a visit to DARD's stand at the Balmoral Show. "People in rural Ireland need to have access to modern technology to support their growing businesses," she said.

"This open day and conference will bring together people from Britain and Ireland to share experience and look at ways that farmers and farm families can get real benefits from using information technology.

My Department will continue to encourage innovative farmers to use the latest technology in their farm businesses and I would encourage people to attend the open day and conference."